The Falling
by Cahsee
Summary: Everything is quiet. Too quiet. What happens if the Edison Group comes back with a new weapon? And zombies begin to come from nowhere? Who's behind it all? So many questions... Too little time. Takes place a couple of months from the end of The Reckoning
1. Chapter 1

**This isn't my first fanfic, but I am REALLY sorry if some of the characters are out of character! I tried to keep them as close as possible…**

**But anyway, let's get this show started. and unfortunately, I do not own the Darkest powers... Kelley Armstrong does..**

**DPOV**

We were on the road again, for the second time since the whole "getting reunited with Dad" thing.

The long car rides I hated, especially in tiny rented cars. When I got my own car, I'd get a big and spacious one. Or if not, I'll just walk everywhere.

It didn't help that Chloe was sleeping on me and Tori on her. Its not like I wanted her to get away from me, I was just claustrophobic.

Lauren glanced back and did a double-take. She grinned. "How sweet," she crooned.

I gave her a slanted smile, then brushed Chloe's hair from her forehead. She began to stir and I stopped short, but then she went back to sleep. I stroked her hair again. It took my mind off of feeling like I was suffocating.

We stopped at a gas station and I jumped out to stretch my legs. Everyone else went to the bathroom while Dad filled up the tank.

"Are your legs asleep?" he asked, looking amused.

_Have been for hours._ "Not really."

"We'll be there soon enough," he assured me.

I nodded and went into the gas station as well. The guy at the register eyed me. I ignored him and made my way Over to the bathroom line, behind Chloe and Lauren, who were waiting for the girl's room.

"How long has Simon been in there?" I asked.

Lauren jumped. Chloe, for once, didn't. "Too long for a pee. For a guy, I mean." She grinned up at me. I tilted my head to meet hers in a head-butt. She made her eyes roll back and cross.

Lauren still seemed to be trying to slow her heart rate. I straightened up and said: "Sorry I scared you."

She shook her head. "No, no. It's fine. I guess I wasn't listening."

"You were. Derek's just quiet," Chloe informed her. I thought this was old news for everyone, but apparently no one had filled Lauren in.

"Oh. His were - thing, right?"

Chloe and I nodded, glancing at the guy in front. He was watching TV on an old screen behind the counter.

"Sorry. I should be more careful," Lauren amended.

"It's fine," I said.

Soon after, Simon walked out, drying his hands on his jeans. Chloe brushed past him and me, who was about to enter. "Gotta go," she said, shutting the door.

Simon, Lauren and I looked at each other. I shrugged.

"Get away from the door, Derek!" she said through the door. She knew I could hear everything.

I smirked and stepped back.

"I'm going to help dad," Simon said, backing away. "See you in a few."

Lauren and I nodded, then descended into silence.

"So you're quiet."

"Yeah."

"You must be light on your feet."

"Like an animal," I said in an icy tone.

She looked up at me. "I didn't mean . . ." She sighed. "Derek, I'm -"

Tori saved me by stepping out of the bathroom then, her hair fixed and everything. No wonder she took so long.

"Sup wolfie," she said to me. "Your turn," she said to Lauren.

She nodded and went in. I was left alone when Tori went back outside. Thoughts swirled around in my head. Was Lauren about to apologize? For everything in the past?

I shook my head. No. It was too soon.

Then I heard the toilet flush and Lauren came out. She glanced at the men's door, then at me. "I trust you'll protect her?"

"Course."

She left.

Chloe came out not long after. "Sorry," she said, wincing. "I have cramps."

"You should."

She cocked her head quizzically.

"I can smell you from a mile away," I said. "Up close, I can smell . . ." I trailed off.

Her eyes went round. "You creeper." She smacked my arm. I laughed.

"It's not like I chose to have this ability."

"Yeah, but you don't have to be searching for that."

"It's hard to miss. Especially when you're cranky out of the blue."

She smacked my arm again for good measure. I grabbed her and lifted her off the ground. She squeaked and tried to get down.

A cough from up front made us look round. The guy watching TV gave us a look. I put her down and we hurried out.

...

The new house wasn't that large, but the property around it was huge. The trees surrounded it like a forest, which I wanted to walk through, after a few more hours in the car. But we all had to get out stuff inside and claim our rooms.

Of course, Simon and I shared a room again. Tori and Chloe shared as well. Lauren and Dad took separate rooms. It was cramped inside with all of us, and only had one bathroom as far as I could tell, but it was perfect if it meant it was away from the Edison Group.

Speaking of them, we hadn't heard of 'em in a few months. I was starting to get worried, as I'm sure everyone else was, but if so, none of us said anything.

I was just waiting for something normal to happen. You know, for one of us to get, like, abducted or something.

Damn, just jinxed myself, didn't I? Shit.

I hauled my stuff to my room and onto my bed. Simon began to unpack on the other side of the room (which wasn't that far) and turned around to me. He said: "Hey, bro . . . you might want to help her."

I tilted my head and could hear Chloe coming up the stairs. Yes, I did know which footsteps were hers. Pathetic, I know.

With that, I headed out of my room and stepped in front of Chloe, blocking her way.

"You have to stop doing that," she said, putting a hand on my arm and trying to move me aside. I didn't budge. She sighed, crossing her arms. "What?"

I held out my hand. She rolled her eyes, but gave me her bag, which weighed practically nothing. I placed it on the bed that Tori hadn't vacated and she told me thank you.

"Yeah, thanks for all the help, lover boy," Tori muttered, pulling out her shirts one-by-one. "Chloe, you and I have to go shopping soon. Otherwise, we'll have to wear our birthday suits."

My nose crinkled at the thought of Tori's birthday suit. Chloe grinned at my reaction, but it slid from her face when Tori faced us, glowering at me.

"We do have to shop for more clothes," Chloe said quickly, directing the attention onto herself again. "But it won't be a shopping-spree. We don't have money to throw away right now."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting a job soon," Tori announced.

"Yeah, cause that's a great idea," I mumbled. Neither of them heard me.

"As what? A waitress? You don't seem like the serving type, Tori," Chloe said, and began to unzip her bag and take clothes out. She folded them on the bed.

"Not a waitress. Maybe I could work at Abercrombie or someplace like that."

I took a shirt from Chloe and folded it for her. "You do know that you need a work permit if you're a minor, right?" I asked.

"Shit, that's right." Tori plopped down onto her bed, defeated.

"We'll figure something out," Chloe assured us. Always the optimist.

"Behold: our little rainbow of light," Tori said, falling onto her back and rubbing her eyes.

I heard something that made me look up. "You're hungry." I looked at Chloe.

She smiled guiltily at me.

"Damn, that's _still_ freaky," Tori said, looking at me. "You'd think I'd get used to it, but no."

"I think it's cool." Chloe grinned up at me.

Tori snorted. "You would."

As if on cue, Lauren called up from the stairs: "Someone want to help me make dinner?"

I didn't want to, actually. But I knew that I had to get Lauren to trust me completely. I was getting somewhere, obviously, but had to keep it up before it broke into a million pieces. So, even though Chloe glared at me, even though I'd much rather be doing something else, I went downstairs to help.

**I know. Lame ending. But it's the first one. More Derek/Chloe action soon, I promise! Trust me, they're like my favorite couple EVER.**

**So? What do you think? R&R please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'll be switching to Chloe's POV soon (even though I generally hate multiple POVs… don't ask why), but not for good. I like seeing things in derek's pov too much.. as I'm sure you all do. So, yeah. Second chapter.**

**Again, I do not own the Darkest Powers. That genius named Kelley Armstrong does.**

**DPOV**

About ten minutes later, I found myself helping Lauren cook pasta in the kitchen (where else would we cook?) and she put me in charge of the noodles.

"You're watching that pot like it might explode," she said, stirring the sauce.

I looked up. "Oh, uh, yeah . . ." Truthfully I just didn't have anything to say. "Don't want to ruin it."

She laughed. "You would."

I turned the boiling noodles over with a wooden spoon.

"What's your favorite subject in school?" she asked.

I frowned.

"Sorry for trying to make small-talk. I know you're some kind of a genius. So . . .?"

"Math," I grunted.

"Wow. Don't think I've ever heard a kid say that." She paused. "Not that you're a kid. A teenager."

I tried not to grimace.

"Right. Well."

I nodded and we dove into silence. For some time now, Lauren has tried to talk to me. Get to know me better. I think she trusts I won't kill her or her niece in their sleep anymore. For a while there I thought she just hated my guts. But I guess she's finally coming around. That's why I'm here now, trying to make that go faster.

She called everyone down for dinner. I served noodles on their plates first, then Lauren poured sauce over them. Simon grinned at me, as if to say: "Sucks to be you." I raised my eyebrows. Tori gave a sing-song thanks, which I was about to return, but I didn't think anyone would want to hear my singing voice.

Chloe took her plate and said in a low voice, "I should probably kiss the cook, now, huh?"

I nodded, then waited. But she ran up to Lauren and kissed her cheek. "Thanks so much!"

Lauren laughed and said it was nothing, that I had helped. I gave Chloe a look. She smirked and sat down. When all of us were served, we sat at the table and ate. Everyone was talking and joking, loud for my good hearing. I tried to tune them all out.

Under the table, Chloe gripped my knee. I jumped and she snickered. "Whose jumpy now?"

For payback, I squeezed her thigh. She took a bite of pasta, then hooked her foot behind mine. I moved my hand up her thigh. She inhaled sharply, so quietly that even I barely heard. I bit back a grin.

Chloe glared at me when I moved even farther up her thigh. She kicked my foot and I let out an "Ow!" and a laugh.

Everyone looked at us. We froze.

"Everything okay?" Dad asked, glancing at me.

"Perfect," Chloe said. "Right Derek?"

"Yeah," I agreed, still squeezing her leg. "Fantastic."

They looked at us suspiciously, but went back to dinner.

...

Later, after we ate, Tori, Simon, Chloe and I were all sitting in the living room, watching some that, to put it nicely, sucked.

Tori groaned at their latest joke. "Oh my god, why is this so stupid?"

"You're the one who said we should watch it," Simon offered.

"I said 'What about this? There's nothing else on.' and all of you agreed." She flopped back onto the carpet, then looked up at me and Chloe.

"Your staring is creepy, you know," Chloe said.

"I'm just seeing how long it takes before you two crack."

"Before we crack?" I asked.

"You know. Before you can't hold it in anymore and start snogging each other's face off."

Chloe laughed.

"Snogging?" Simon asked.

"I'm familiar with a couple British-isms." When Simon still looked lost, she enlightened him with: "It means making out."

He nodded. "Oh yeah. Right."

Chloe was still smiling. "You know, I think I am starting to crack." She leaned against me and I think I began to smile, too. "I can't take it anymore, Derek. Snog my face off. Come on." She hopped into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me down to meet her.

She pressed her mouth to mine for only a few seconds before Tori said, "Okay, okay! You can stop with that now!"

She pulled away and I growled, biting her nose and she gave a girly giggle.

Simon and Tori groaned. "It's so sweet I could barf." Simon made a gagging noise while Tori rolled her eyes at him.

After that, we were all so tired that we trudged upstairs to our rooms. I barely tugged off my T-shirt before I fell into bed, exhausted and glad that I didn't have to sleep on the road again. I'd done too much of that and it always gave me a killer head-ache. I settled down and sighed, then shifted, trying to get comfortable. Then turned over again.

"Dude, _please_ stop," Simon groaned from the other side of the room.

I mumbled an apology and shifted for the last time, folding the pillow under my head and closed my eyes. I fell asleep soon after that.

Too bad I wouldn't be sleeping for long.

**Ooh action coming up in the next chapter! Haha. Anyway, yeah, that was the last of the intro chapters. Thank god. It's kind of boring writing something like that.**

**Anyway, R&R please!**

**Cahsee out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to everyone that has commented. (It means so much to me!) Yeah, Lauren's different in this because I was getting so tired of her being so . . . aunt lauren. Anyway, finals are next week and I have a LOT of studying to do… particularly in Español, math and chemistry. So I may or may not have time to upload after this for a while. I guess we'll see.**

**Let chapter three commence! **

**(I do not own the Darkest Powers.)**

**CPOV**

I jerked awake suddenly, sitting upright in bed, banging my head on the bed post. I swore, rubbing it and looking over to see if I'd woken Tori up. Of course not. She was a heavy sleeper.

My heart rate slowing, I lowered myself back down onto the bed and laid on my side, staring at the hardwood floor bathed in moonlight from the window.

My dream hadn't been pleasant. But what it was about, I couldn't have said. It was slipping away. Soon, it would be gone. A lost memory. I tried to remember. It was important – I could feel it. My gut told me it was.

Closing my eyes, I wracked my brain, then finally, I remembered. I dreamt of raising a body.

Leaping out of bed (and hitting my head again), I pulled on a jacket and took my shoes into my hands. Then I quietly walked down the hall towards the boy's room.

After a few minutes of quietly clearing my throat in the hall and no one coming out of the room, I went inside. It was dark, but I could make out Simon in his bed, snoring slightly. The other was clearly Derek, who was on his stomach, his jeans still on.

I walked to him and leaned over, shaking his shoulder. For a split second, I wondered if he'd been drugged again, but he soon woke, blinking his eyes open and gazing sleepily up at me. "Huh-?"

"Sorry to wake you," I whispered, brushing his hair back from his face. I needed to cut it for him soon.

He closed his eyes, then pushed up onto his elbows and rubbed his face. "There must be a good reason if you're waking me up at" – he glanced at the clock – "three a.m."

I nodded. "There is."

He turned over, the bed creaking. He froze, waiting to see if it had woke Simon up. It didn't. He jumped off and stretched. I tried not to stare.

"Put a shirt on," I said reluctantly. "It's cold outside."

"Outside?" he asked, suddenly wide awake. "Have they -?"

"Nothing about the Edison Group," I told him. He looked slightly relieved. I wanted to explain, but I really should downstairs, so I wouldn't wake anyone else up. I motioned for him to follow me and he did, grabbing his shoes and a shirt.

Downstairs, I told him about my dream. After I finished, he said: "I'm glad you woke me up. I'll look around outside, just to be sure. I'm sure it's nothing, but better be safe than sorry, right?"

I agreed and followed him out. It _was_ cold outside. And dark. I stayed close behind him, but still stumbled over rocks and roots. He wandered into the trees surrounding the house, sniffing the ground and the air, searching. Seeing him like that, it reminded me of something.

"While we're out here," I began. "We should look for the best place for you to Change."

Derek turned to me, his hair spiking up in the wind from the back. "Yeah. Might as well."

So as he searched for a zombie, I searched for a clearing. I had a harder time, though, with my lack of super senses.

"If only I had your sense of smell," I muttered.

He heard me, of course.

"It's helpful," he admitted. "But it can also be a bitch. Some things and some _people _smell awful." He grinned at me, his teeth flashing white in the dark. "But not you, of course." He pulled me to him and buried his nose in my hair, making exaggerated sniffing noises.

I laughed, pushing him away. "I can't smell _that _good after being on the road for so long."

"Well, you certainly smell better than anyone I've ever smelled."

"What about Aunt Lauren? She wears perfume."

He made a face. "Perfume is too strong." He paused. "You see? An example of my sense of smell not being what it's cracked up to be. But hearing? That's a different story. I can hear your heart beating, even from here."

Of course, that just made my heart beat faster.

He gave a soft chuckle, then continued to search.

I didn't find a clearing, but we did make some progress.

"Found something," he said softly.

I tensed. "Human?"

"No. Animal. Squirrel, I think."

He began to walk through the bushes and I hurried to catch up. He crouched next to a small, writhing heap of fur on the ground, covered by leaves. I swallowed, just standing there. He looked up, sensed my nervousness, and took my arm, pulling me down next to him.

"Send him back," he said into my ear. I felt him pull my hair back. I took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind before I thought of the squirrel.

I imagined myself pushing his ghost away without using too much energy. But I must've been really tense because Derek rubbed my arms, suddenly behind me. I didn't remember him moving there.

His hands froze on my arms. "Should I stop?" he asked.

I shook my head.

So he leaned against me, warming me, my body relaxing. When I thought I'd sent it back, I opened one eye. It was still moving.

"It's fine," he said, his voice a deep rumble. He rested his head against my shoulder blade. "Try again."

So I did. I tried again, ramping it up a bit. When I began to gasp, I looked at the tiny body was relieved to find it was still.

"It's gone," I announced. Then I turned to him. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

Now that that was out of the way, we began to search for a spot for him to Change. Of course, with Derek helping, we found it within ten minutes.

"Perfect," I said.

"Yeah." He didn't look at me.

"Is something wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh. No . . ."

"You're worried."

His shoulders slumped. "Yeah."

Derek hadn't been able to shift after that day at the lab. He tried, but it always ended up being a lost cause. Which made him nervous. And irritable. "It'll work this time," I said.

"Yeah." He sounded uncertain.

I sauntered closer to him. "It will."

He clenched his jaw. "But what if . . . what if I'm done? What if that's it?"

"It isn't."

"What if I want it to be?"

I paused. I remembered all the pain I'd seen him go through three times already. It was horrible. I wished I could've taken the pain away. "Well, then I guess, if it _is_ done, you should be thankful."

"But . . ."

I snorted. "Stop acting like a teenager who can't make up his mind."

"But I _am _a teenager who can't make up his mind."

He was right, of course. Derek may be uber-smart and look older than he was, but he was still a sixteen-year-old guy. He was still young – _we _were still young. Too young.

"If it comes, it'll come. If it doesn't, then it won't," I stated, then winced at the awkward wording.

Derek rubbed his neck, then pushed back his hair and yawned. I yawned, too.

"Let's go back to bed," I said. "Sorry tonight was so uneventful."

"It wasn't uneventful. I got to spend time with you." He smiled at me, almost shy.

I rolled his eyes at his cheesiness. "Come on."

It wasn't until we got near the house that Derek stiffened. "What?" I breathed.

He sniffed the air, then pulled me to him quickly, a small growl bubbling up from his stomach. I looked over my shoulder to see the outline of a man.

_Edison Group_, my mind said immediately.

But Derek corrected me. "Zombie."

**Sort of a cliff-hanger. Or maybe a lot. Sorry about that. And I've noticed (after reading DP again, that Chloe and I are practically the same people. Same height, same age range, our first names begin with C and our last begin with S.. we both love movies.. and Derek. But I don't stutter or have blonde hair… anyway, just an observation. Sorry to bore you.) **

**Anyway, till the next chapter! **

**R&R please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry, I lied. **_**now **_**the action will begin. So here ya go!**

**CPOV**

Of course, finding out that a zombie was twenty feet away from you wasn't that much more reassuring.

"Oh my god," I groaned. "I raised him too?"

Derek held me fast as the dead man lurched forward, unsteady on his feet. His clothes were reduced to threadbare rags and his hair (what was left of it, anyway) was stringy and greasy. Despite the warning in my head, I wriggled out of Derek's grip, and began to cautiously walk towards the man. "It's fine. He's harmless, as long as I –"

But I didn't have time to say anymore because the dead man was suddenly there, locking his hand on my throat, choking me. I tried to kick him, but when I did, he didn't even flinch, just tightened his grip and tried to gnaw on my face with his rotten teeth.

Derek appeared behind the zombie, taking its head and twisting so the neck cracked. I was able to back away and catch my breath as the two of them went at it. This zombie was faster than others I'd seen, even with its awkward gait. It jumped onto Derek before I had time to collect my jumbled thoughts and focus.

"Now would be a good time to send him back!" Derek yelled, falling to the ground, the zombie on top of him. He tried to kick it away, but it felt nothing, just kept attacking.

Unlike with the squirrel I just sent back, I was totally unable to relax. I kept on opening my eyes every time I heard a crack to make sure it wasn't Derek who was getting hurt.

"I'm fine," he called. "Just _do it!_"

I closed my eyes again and pushed him with all of my strength. I felt sweat rolling down my back, despite the early morning chill. I was shaking so hard.

_Relax relax relax!_

I'm trying!

_Not hard enough!_

I gasped when I heard a tear and wished I hadn't opened my eyes . . . because the man's head had separated from his body . . . and it was still moving, trying to get to me while his headless body attacked Derek again, punching him so hard his head jerked to the side painfully.

Oh my _god._

The head was rolling towards me. I panicked.

_Focus, you idiot!_

I forced my mind to clear and pushed so hard I felt dizzy. It still wasn't enough, though. I felt his head at my feet and I squeaked, kicking it away like a soccer ball. It went flying, thudding against a tree before starting for me again.

With everything I had left, I imagined the ghost of the man being sucked into a black hole and, finally, it went silent. I dropped to my knees, shaking and on the brink of passing out. I buried my head in my hands, trying not to relive the last few minutes. But it was useless – I would never forget it.

Derek came over to me. I heard him breathing hard and I looked up. His face was scratched up and bruised. He would have a black eye. But he didn't seem to care.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said quickly, waving it off. "But what about _you?"_

"I've been better."

Getting up, I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I'm so sorry."

"Why? For dreaming about raising them? It's not something you can control, as I recall you telling me."

"Yeah, but you got hurt because of me."

"It's nothing," he said. "Just a scratch."

"The body -"

"I'll take care of that later."

"No. Now. I'll help you bury it."

He didn't argue. So we then buried the dead body (which was hard without shovels), with its severed head, far from the house. I just hoped now that I'd somehow forget about it and never dream about raising the man again. But with my luck, what were the odds of that?

When we finished, we headed back to the house, covered from head-to-toe in dirt. The sun was starting to come up over the mountains as we took our shoes off on the back porch. I then followed him inside and he closed the door behind me, locking it.

"I'm going to rinse off," Derek said quietly, already going up the stairs.

I hurried after him and told him: "Come get me when you're done. I have to also."

He nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. I hung out in my room, sitting on the hardwood so I wouldn't get my bed dirty.

As I sat there, I felt shaky still. I hugged my knees to myself and rested my chin on them. I could feel the dead man's head thud against my foot again and again and again . . .

I squeezed my eyes shut. I had raised him. I'd done something horrible to him.

_You didn't mean to._

Yeah, but still. I couldn't help but feel it was all my fault. Well, it _was_ my fault, so my feelings were correct.

I was shaken out of my thoughts when suddenly Derek touched my shoulder. I looked up and saw the concern in his eyes, and his hair dripping wet.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

I nodded and got up. He followed me out of my room, closing the door silently behind me. He pulled me aside before I could enter the bathroom. "Don't even think about it," he said into my ear. "It's over."

I bit my lip. "I know."

"Then what's -?"

I cut him off by wrapping my arms around his waist, burying my face into his shirt. "I don't want to talk about it right now." My words were muffled, but he understood me just fine.

"Right. Later." He slowly put his arms around me, as if uncertain. I hugged him tighter, staying there for a few seconds, then let go, backing up.

"See you in a bit."

In the shower, I took my time. The warm water began to turn cold by the time I was finished. By the time I was, there was Simon outside of my door, waiting for entrance.

"Sorry. I didn't know you were -" I started to say, but he flew in with a thanks and slammed the door.

I went to my room, towel-drying my hair as I went, and got into some clean clothes. Tori woke up soon after that and we both went downstairs to eat breakfast.

Down there, I saw Aunt Lauren fussing over Derek and hurried over. "— did you even get these?" she was harassing him with while he was trying to eat his cereal.

I circled around so I could see his face. It was covered with scratches and he definitely had a black eye. He noticed that everyone was staring at him, so he ducked his head, letting his hair cover his face. An explanation was in order.

"I had a dream that I'd raised something last night," I began and everyone turned to me. "Derek heard me get up. So we went outside to make sure I didn't raise anything. I did. It was a squirrel. It attacked him."

Simon's laugh came from around the corner as he entered the kitchen. "Seriously? Wish I could've been there."

Derek scowled at the table.

"We have to clean them. They're going to swell and you'll get an infection," Aunt Lauren said, her doctor instincts coming through. She backed away and was at the edge of the stairs when she noticed he wasn't following. "Come on."

He glanced at me, who nodded, then he reluctantly stood up and walked over. They went upstairs.

Mr. Bae looked at me when they left. "A squirrel, huh?"

I nodded. "A zombie squirrel."

Tori made a face before going to the fridge. She opened it and groaned. "I told you, Chloe. We need to go shopping for clothes _and _for food."

"You're right on that," Simon said, leaning on the sink counter. "Otherwise, my brother will get so hungry he'll be reduced to eating us all."

Tori shuddered. "Don't even kid like that." Her gaze slid towards me. "Not that Chloe would mind it."

I raised my eyebrows. "The thought of being eaten is supposed to turn me on?"

She grinned, along with Simon. Mr. Bae looked uncomfortable through it all.

Not even two seconds later, Aunt Lauren interrupted my cereal time.

"Chloe? Want to help me?" I looked up, confused. "Derek won't let me put alcohol on his cuts."

Now I was even more confused. Of all people, Derek would be the most practical and see that alcohol had to be used if he didn't want an infection, so I knew that there had to be an underlying motive. My aunt, though? She didn't know him that well.

I said I'd see what I could do and followed her upstairs (Mr. Bae, Simon, and Tori's eyes on my back) and into the tiny bathroom. Derek was lounging on the toilet seat, leaning on the sink. His wounds looked irritated and his black eye looked painful. My heart melted at the thought that it'd all been because of me.

I shook off that feeling (for now) and dealt with the matter at hand. "Derek Souza," I began, putting my hands on my hips in a motherly fashion. "Are you misbehaving, young man?"

I heard Aunt Lauren give a laugh, saying she found this adorable - the way Derek looked up at me with that face. The one that always got me.

"No, ma'am."

"You better not." I shook my head, turning to Aunt Lauren. "I'll take it from here. Just the alcohol?"

She nodded. "No bandages. We need to let those cuts breathe." Then with one last look (one that made me think she actually knew what we were trying to do) she left. I closed the door and lifted my eyebrows at him. "What's this really about?"

He gave a crooked smile. "What? I can't have alone time with you?"

I snorted. "Not with you on the toilet."

He grinned.

I then set about putting rubbing alcohol on the cuts. They were all over his face - some deeper than others - but nothing serious, thank god.

"This may sting," I warned, taking his chin and tilting it up to see his face better. As I cleaned them, he didn't even wince, just watched me with those green eyes. It was a bit unnerving. "What?" I asked after a while.

"You look so determined."

"Well, I don't want to get it in your eyes," I muttered, wetting another towel with the alcohol. I was careful when it came to his eyes, yes, but I also took my sweet time because I liked getting to spend time with him. (As if last night with a rabid zombie wasn't enough.)

"Anywhere else? Arms?" I said when I finished with his face.

He rolled up his sleeves and inspected them. "Nope and no. I think I'm good."

"On your legs? Chest? Back?"

"No, no and no. Chloe, really, I'm fine. Except for, you know, my eye and my jaw."

"Jaw?"

"Where he punched me," he explained, massaging his jaw and wincing a bit.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "You should've told me before I grabbed your chin and yanked it up."

"It didn't hurt that bad."

"Still." I took his face into my hands, burying my fingers into his hair. "Does it hurt now?"

"A little," he admitted.

I leaned forward and gently kissed his jaw. "All better now." I was about to pull away but he suddenly leaned into me and kissed me. I was surprised at first, but soon came to my senses and kissed him back. I snaked my arms around his neck and his went around my waist, pulling me forward so that I found myself in his lap.

Of course, someone had to ruin the mood and knock on the door.

"Derek? Chloe?" Simon's voice came from the hall. We jumped, our teeth clanking together.

"Yeah?" I called out, but Derek was trailing kisses down my neck and I was too distracted to hear what he said next.

" - now."

I pushed Derek away. He gave a low growl before resuming. "What?"

"Lauren and my dad want to go to shopping for supplies now."

"We'll be right there." I heard him leave and turned to Derek. "You're impossible."

He grinned. "Let's go."

"Yeah, we should probably not make-out in the bathroom."

"Either here or in front of my dad and your aunt."

I paused. "Yeah, the bathroom's fine."

**Sorry about the long wait. I hope it was worth it. Finals were brutal (yes, I am very dramatic) but I passed all my classes! (like you care… I'm a total stranger) But, anyways, until the next chapter, which should be up soon. Till then, my dears!**

**Peace out!**


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